COIN-OP COMING TO SOMA + OTHER PLACES TO DRINK WHILE YOU PLAY

Written by Emily Malter and Garrick Ramirez | 12/19/16

Photo by Luke Beard

The Bay Area's got game. A recent boom in bar diversions means you can pair your beers with bocce ball or your cocktails with Candyland. Here's a list of our top bar games along with our favorite spots to play them.

Coin-Op, a new 10,000 square-foot, design-driven arcade bar featuring vintage games and craft cocktails, will open in SoMa this month. The space was designed by SF-based firm sfHEIMAT and features loads of fun details, including a Tron-themed speakeasy, Super Mario and Pac-Man wallpaper in the bathrooms, a giant-Lego cocktail table, and Star Wars tiki glassware. // 508 4th St. (SoMa), coinopsf.com

The price is right for the tech sect with happy hour specials and a 30-foot Plinko game fed by a bin full of soccer balls. When you're all plunked out, there's also an Atari 2600 simulator, Wii, pool, shuffleboard, ping-pong, and an assortment of board games. // 55 5th St. (SoMa), viceroyhotelgroup.com

You'll need a caddy to lug your drinks around this fantastical mini-golf course (haha, not true! You can't take your drinks on the course). But there are two bars, a full restaurant upstairs, and 14 mechanically-enhanced holes, all playfully set in a former Mission mortuary. // 1096 S Van Ness Ave. (Mission),urbanputt.com

A downtown Oakland bar is a poor sub for a bucolic Napa estate, yet somehow the popular field sport works here. Colorful balls line two indoor courts while local tap handles line the bar. // 1741 Telegraph Ave (Oakland), makewesting.com

Three glowing skee ball machines hold down a corner at this Union Square bar and game room. The 100-strong beer list helps explain all the netting around the games. // 525 Sutter St. #2 (Union Square),ggtaproom.com

With props to the Russian roughneck from Super Punch Out!!, the eponymous California Street bar serves up Super Nintendo, Soviet-era decor, and oversized boots of Moscow Mules. Just take care not to end up with the boxer's original moniker, Vodka Drunkenski. // 1548 California St. (Nob Hill), sodapopinskisf.com

This bookish East Bay pub—which just turned 50—hosts the well-read and the Berkeley-bred with popcorn, a killer scotch selection, and six pro dart lanes. // 1822 San Pablo Ave. (Berkeley), albatrosspub.com